Our Team
Empire Clean Cities Staff
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Board of Directors
 | SUSAN MCSHERRY, BOARD PRESIDENT Director of Alternative Fuels Program, New York City Department of Transportation Susan McSherry is Director of Alternative Fuel Programs at the New York City Department of Transportation, focusing on clean fuels and advanced technology vehicle programs. She is responsible for managing grant program development and clean fleet projects, including assisting NYC agencies in advancing their Green Fleet initiatives to lower CO2 and criteria pollutant emissions from the City’s vehicle fleet; DOTs Curbside EV Charging Pilot Program to bring visibility and awareness of EV charging for privately owned vehicles that park on street; and the relaunch of the NYC Clean Trucks Program which expanded the successful Hunts Point Clean Truck Program to other Industrial Business Zones citywide. She and her office support the local NYC/Empire Clean Cities Coalition on petroleum reduction policy and implementation and conduct relevant public outreach and education to community and technical groups about clean vehicles. Susan holds a Masters in Urban Planning from Hunter College. |
 | Director, Clean Vehicles at Natural Resources Defense Council Kathy Harris leads NRDC's work on clean vehicle policies and programs that accelerate the transition to zero-emission passenger cars and trucks. Prior to joining NRDC, she worked for the state of Delaware as a planner, addressing a variety of statewide and regional policies and programs to mitigate greenhouse gases in the transportation sector. She also served as the Delaware Clean Cities coordinator. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental science and a master's degree in marine policy from the University of Delaware. She is based in NRDC's New York office. |
 | JOHN MARKOWITZ, ASSISTANT SECRETARY Senior Director, New York Power Authority John is Director of e-Mobility Technology and Engineering at the New York Power Authority (NYPA). He manages NYPA’s electric transportation program, as well as projects in the areas of renewable energy and energy storage. He participated in the field testing of the first plug-in hybrid vehicles from the major automakers. He is also a member of the Electric Power Research Institute’s Infrastructure Working Committee. This group of representatives of the automakers and electric utilities defines safety standards for electric vehicle charging equipment. Before joining NYPA, John held engineering and marketing positions in the fields of transportation and energy efficiency. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Association of Energy Engineers. He holds the following degrees: Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College, and Master of Business Administration from Pace University. He is a New York State Licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Energy Manager. |
 | SHAYNE BROOKS Director of Sustainability and Community Engagement, City of Mount Vernon Shayne Brooks is the Director of Sustainability and Community Engagement at the City of Mount Vernon. He created and managed the first municipal food distribution in the city and during the pandemic, this food distribution garnered a record 1.3 million pounds of food being distributed in a 7-month period. Other firsts included the municipal partnership with Feeding Westchester, and the first composting partnership with the Westchester County’s Department of Environmental Facilities for the City of Mount Vernon. He also initiated, managed, and oversaw a recycle bin campaign that provided 2000 free 32-gallon recyclable bins. This effort resulted in increased recycle rates, city wide reducing solid waste tonnage, and was noticed by Westchester County’s Department of Environmental Facilities. Shayne is especially interested in environmental justice programing that leverages for the benefit of historically under-served communities to provide access and advances in sustainability by using strategic, cutting edge and commercial tactics. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Buffalo in Public Relations and Communications and more recently is an award recipient of the Feeding Westchester’s 2019 Enhanced Services provider Award as well as the Westchester County’s Department of Environmental Facilities Eco Award for both the years 2022 and 2023. |
 | TEVIN GRANT Assistant Counsel/Attorney, NYC Department of Environmental Protection |
 | ROBERT O. GURMAN Managing Consultant, Proenergy Consulting Robert O. Gurman is Managing Consultant of Proenergy Consulting, a clean transportation/ clean energy consulting firm. Mr. Gurman is a commercial & finance expert in the vehicle electrification/clean mobility, clean energy, renewable energy, and project & infrastructure finance space: involved in over $34 billion of transactions in his career of over three decades. His publication, "Taking Commercial Fleet Electrification to Scale: Financing Barriers and Solutions," was published by CALSTART (https://globaldrivetozero.org/publication/taking- commercial-fleet-electrification-to-scale-financing-barriers-and-solutions/). Mr. Gurman currently serves on the Board of Empire Clean Cities, and has consulted on clean mobility and vehicle electrification for public entities including the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (“NYSERDA”), New York Green Bank (“NYGB”), and US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office; as well as the Montgomery County (MD) Green Bank and CALSTART. Commercial clean energy clients have included Astoria Energy, JEMB Energy Resources, eTransEnergy, Marathon Capital, and Electrada. In addition, Mr. Gurman plays a senior management role at Green Island EV Corp. and EV Edison, Inc., and is an advisor to Stak Mobility Corp., Pathion Holdings Inc., and Swiftwater Solar. In addition, Mr. Gurman is a co-founder, and on the Investment Committee, of Newmarket Capital - International Infrastructure Finance Company Funds (approx. $2.25 billion combined) and Acting Chairman of the Utility Debt Securitization Authority, a NY State agency restructuring and securitizing ~$5.8 billion of Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) debt. Mr. Gurman has taught project & infrastructure finance for Standard & Poor’s Global Market Intelligence, and has also taught and lectured at Johns Hopkins University – SAIS (adjunct professor), Columbia University Business School, and New York University. He has also served as an Expert Witness in commercial & bankruptcy litigation in the clean energy sector. |
 | MELINDA HANSON Co-founder and Principal at Brightside Strategies Co-founder and Member at The Equitable Commute Project Melinda is the founder of Brightside, a consultancy providing public affairs, strategic guidance, and actionable research for urban mobility companies. She’s also the co-founder of the Equitable Commute Project, a coalition whose mission is to expand economic opportunity by increasing access to electric micromobility, and a fellow at the climate tech investor Elemental Excelerator. She’s spent her career working to decarbonize cities, including as Head of Sustainability at Bird, as Deputy Director for NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative, and as Portfolio Manager at the ClimateWorks Foundation. |
 | STEVEN LEVY Managing Director, Sprague Energy |
 | THOMAS LUBAS Director of Operations Service, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey(Retired) Thomas Lubas is the Past President of the Governing Board of Empire Clean Cities and the former Director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. During his 40 years of service with the Port Authority, Mr. Lubas has held senior management positions in the agency departments of engineering, finance, legal & regulatory matters, Vehicle Fleet Management and Materials Management. For over 20 years, Mr. Lubas managed and oversaw the management of the Port Authority's Automotive Fleet, consisting of approximately 2,300 vehicles with a replacement value in excess of $200 million and which was named in the Top 10 Best Government Green Fleets in North America. Mr. Lubas is a former Vice President and current Honorary Member as well as the New York-Intercounty Secretary of the NAFA Fleet Management Association. He is also the current Sergeant-of-Arms of the American Legion, NJ Post 209. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree with High Honors from the Stevens Institute of Technology and he has completed postgraduate work at Columbia University and at Stevens. |
 | ZACH MILLER Vice President of Government Affairs for the Trucking Association of New York Zach Miller is the Vice President of Government Affairs for the Trucking Association of New York (TANY). He also serves on the Board of Director of the Empire Clean Cities Coalition and co-chairs the Queens Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee. Previously, he was the Metro Region Vice-Chair for TANY on the Board of Directors. He also served as the head of Media and Business Development at TruckTractorTrailer.com and co-founded NewYorkTruckStop.com. Zach completed his BBA in Business Administration from Hofstra University and is a proud graduate of the TANY Leadership program. He is recipient of TANY’s Outstanding Service Award and was recognized as one of City & State’s Responsible 100. A lifelong New Yorker, he is a long-suffering fan of the New York Mets and New York Jets. |
 | MARK SIMON Director of Electric Vehicle Policy, NYC Department of Transportation |
 | RAGHU SUDHAKARA Vice President, Distributed Resources Integration Raghu Sudhakara is currently Director of E-Mobility and Demonstrations at Con Edison and is responsible for Company initiatives in transport electrification as well as demonstration projects piloting new and innovative utility business models in the transportation sector. Transportation initiatives undertaken by his team include the country’s second largest EV charger infrastructure as well as a managed charging program that incentivizes EV charging to occur during off-peak hours thereby alleviating strain on the grid. Previously, he was involved with non-wires alternatives that developed portfolios of customer side resources in order to defer or offset building tradition infrastructure. And before that, he advocated on behalf of the Company on wholesale demand response and electricity market issues at NYISO and PJM. Before joining Con Edison in 2012, Raghu worked as a consultant to power generation companies around the world on power plant efficiencies. Raghu has bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Karnataka and a masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri and, a dual masters degree in Public Administration from Sciences Po and Columbia University. |
Advisory Board Members
 | BARRY CARR |
 | CHUCK FEINBERG Executive Vice President & Principal, Greener by Design, LLC; New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition |